Caroline Fairbanks wasn't expecting it all to come together this quickly.

Her former coach, Brian Macchi, wasn't surprised in the least.

Fairbanks was a four-year starter for Macchi and the Milford softball team. It first occurred to her that she was particularly dangerous with a bat in her hands as a sophomore. She was an instrumental player for a group that went 50-1-1 over its last two seasons while winning two state championships. She seemed to have a natural ability to punish softballs, a talent that brought her to Wheaton College this past fall.

Competitive as Mid-Wach A and the Hockomock League was, collegiate softball it was not. With most incoming freshman, a period of adjustment is almost always anticipated.

No such adjustment was necessary for Fairbanks, though. It appears her natural ability translates well.

"In her four years at Milford she played in a lot of big games and that experience I thought would help her at the next level," said Macchi. "She was in the middle of our lineup for the majority of her high school career and she came up with big hit after big hit. She was a fixture in the program and she was always eager to get better and really put the time in, and now she's using those attributes and applying them to the college level.

"Wheaton College is really lucky to have her."

Lucky might be putting it lightly. In her first season Fairbanks mashed to the tune of a .354 average, leading the team with six home runs, 30 runs batted in, a .723 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.159.

It's been an impressive debut season for a player who made a name for herself as the slugger the Scarlet Hawks built their lineup around. Fairbanks' classmate Shannon Smith, the pitcher who earned three Gatorade Player of the Year awards and now deals for the University of Kentucky, may have been the face of that program. But Fairbanks was its most lethal hitter, leading the team in home runs and RBIs her final three seasons.

But as prepared as she was by playing on elite high school and club teams, Fairbanks still felt those initial nerves when exposed to the next level.

It didn't last long. She logged her first at-bat. Then another. Before long it became the same game she had been playing since she was five years old.

"Coming in everyone's nervous," said Fairbanks. "It's a new chapter. It's college softball, it's not just high school or travel. But once you step back it's not that different, it's still softball, still the same rules, still the same game, just at a faster pace and a higher level. There is a moment where things start to happen and you just say to yourself, ‘I can do it.'"

Page 2 of 3 - For Fairbanks, that moment came on March 23 in the Lyons 10-3 victory over Bridgewater State. She went 1-for-3 that day, launching her first home run.

Things seemed to click after that. She hit five more round trippers over the next nine games, a span in which Wheaton went 7-2. That included a 3-for-4 performance in the second game of a double-header against Emerson on March 28 when she hit two home runs and knocked in six runs in a 12-10 victory. On March 31 she was named the NEWMAC Player of the Week. A day later she earned ECAC Player of the Week honors.

"It honestly came as a very big surprise to me," said Fairbanks. "But it's one of those things where I took it with grace and dignity and I built upon it. I didn't want to let it affect me and it was definitely an honor, especially being a freshman, but I kind of used it as motivation more than anything."

The praise came flying in. She keeps in touch with Macchi regularly, as well as her old Milford teammates, saying they're almost always the first to congratulate one another. She received a text from Smith almost instantly, as well as Rachel Levine (playing at Boston University) and Lauren Hanna (playing at Brown), the other two players who made up the "core four" that spearheaded Milford's two state title runs.

According to Wheaton coach Rachael Powers, what's served Fairbanks best in the early days of her college career has been her approach outside the batter's box.

"It's a bigger mental game in college and she put herself in a good position," said Powers. "She's worked very hard all around and she's got a good head on her shoulders. She definitely has some internal drive where she doesn't quit and she's never going to quit. She's had success and she knows what that's like and she wants to keep that up mentally."

Fairbanks has been a natural fit on a perennially competitive Wheaton team that has gone 30-8 this season and entered the NEWMAC tournament as the second seed. But since that incredible stretch, things haven't come quite as easy for her.

She hasn't hit a home run since April 1, and in that time has seen her batting average drop 63 points and her slugging percentage fall 138 points. It's marked the first real taste of adversity for Fairbanks this season.

"I think I was in my own head a lot," she said. "I would step in the box and try to fix everything at once, and you need to step in with a clear head. As silly as it might sound you need to just see the ball and hit the ball, and that's what I need to go back to, a more relaxed approach."

Page 3 of 3 - Should she find a way to recapture that stroke — the one that wreaks havoc on opposing pitchers and gave a freshman some of the top numbers in the entire conference — it could make all the difference for a Lyons team determined to win a national championship.

And while her focus is squarely on the task at hand, it's nearly impossible to avoid the temptation to look forward. An inaugural season as productive as this only lends itself to visions of the future.

"I'm definitely excited for what the next three years can bring," said Fairbanks. "We definitely have the talent and we're a fairly young team. We're excited to see what we can do after this year and build on it, and the next year and the year after. It's definitely something you think about, and it definitely goes by really fast. You just need to enjoy each moment."

Notes

Westfield State senior Joe Kreinsen of Natick was named the recipient of the DeOrmond Tuss McLaughry Award presented annually to the outstanding college football scholar-athlete in Western Massachusetts. Kreinsen is the second Westfield State football player to receive the honor in the 32-year history of the Westfield State football program; former Owl tight end Brett Ralph received the award in 2008. …

Regis College Senior Jeff Parrish of Framingham was named the NECC men's tennis Player of the Week. …

Newbury College junior Chi Yin Li of Framingham was an honorable mention All-Star on the NECC men's volleyball All-Conference team.

Craig Gilvarg can be reached at 508-626-4405 or cgilvarg@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @CraigGilvarg.